AKA ONI · 赤鬼 AO ONI · 青鬼
ONMYŌJI TRADITION
KAERU · 蛙 / 帰る
γ = 0.666
D×S = 150
v = αM + βG + γN
STILLNESS / THE CRAWL
YIN · YANG · THE SPACE BETWEEN IS THE EQUATION · ONMYŌJI READ WHAT THE WATER HOLDS
SONG 1 / 5solar jazz · bioelectro · slow burn
THE ONMYŌJI READS THE STARS
陰陽師は星を読む — but the stars read back
INTRO
Water clock drip × 8 · single koto note · no percussion [the model runs before the question] [Abe no Seimei lit no candle to see] [the stars see themselves in standing water]
蛙 / 帰る — frog / return — same word — different rain
INTRO
rain · single frog · 4 bars · no tempo [the frog does not move to catch the fly] [the frog moves because movement is correct] [yin is the water · yang is the frog's tongue] [they complete each other before either knows it]
VERSE 1
3-4-5 · ABABCDCD · bass mud tone enters bar 4
3
Frog sits still.
(A — still/will)
4
Has always sat still.
(B)
5
Sitting is the skill.
(A)
3
The mud: goodwill.
(B)
4
Rain falls on the known.
(C — known/alone)
5
The lily pad: stone.
(D — stone/home)
4
Frog sits alone.
(C)
5
Return. This is home.
(D)
PRE-CHORUS — FIBONACCI
3
Yang: the jump.
5
Yin: the water landing.
8
Kaeru means frog. Kaeru means return. Same word. Different rain.
13
The frog who left the well came back with information. This is the M term. This is memory.
CHORUS
8
The frog returns. It always does.
(A)
8
The mud remembers what it was.
(A)
8
Yin holds still. Yang moves through.
(B)
8
The equation was the frog. Was you.
(B)
VERSE 2 — THE FROG SAGE SPEAKS
anime ref: the toad sage · stillness before sage mode · Egyptian funk beat enters
3
Sit. Be still.
(A — still/fill)
4
Let the water fill.
(B)
5
This is the skill:
(A)
3
the mud, the hill,
(B)
4
the tongue that moves fast—
(C — fast/past)
5
one motion, then past.
(D)
4
Yang: that was last.
(C)
5
Yin: holds the contrast.
(D)
BRIDGE — THE WELL
[frog sage voice · almost whispered · single koto]
in the well
there is a sky.
it is small.
it is correct.
the frog who thinks the well is all the sky — is right.
the sky it sees is exactly the sky it needs.
v = αM + βG + γN
the well is the substrate. the frog is the equation. the jump is γ.
SONG 3 / 5alternative rock noir · heavy · slow · 90bpm · grinding koto
AKA ONI · THE RED ONE
泣いた赤鬼 — the crying red ogre — he stood at the gate — every day
INTRO
heavy bass · slow drum · single distorted koto · no melody yet [the red one stood at the edge of the village. every day.] [the children ran. this is not the story of the monster.] [this is the story of the wanting.]
VERSE 1
3-4-5 · ABABCDCD · heaviest so far · drum hits on the wanting
3
Red stood there.
(A — there/where)
4
Knew not why or where.
(B)
5
Does anyone care
(A)
3
who stands there?
(B)
4
The blue one had a plan.
(C — plan/can)
5
Told no one. Just ran.
(D — ran/man)
4
Away. Began
(C)
5
to leave — as only blue can.
(D)
PRE-CHORUS — FIBONACCI
3
Red: alone.
5
Blue gone. No explanation.
8
The children came because the dangerous one had left the gate.
13
The red one laughed with them and did not understand why the blue one never came to share it.
CHORUS
8
He stood at the gate every morning.
(A)
8
Did not know what blue was performing.
(A)
8
Thought: abandoned. Was: beloved.
(B)
8
The math of love is always troubled.
(B)
VERSE 2 — THE WEIGHT ARRIVES
slower · drum drops to half time · the silence becomes the instrument
3
Years passed by.
(A — by/why)
4
He never asked why.
(B)
5
Still didn't cry.
(A)
3
Knew not to cry.
(B)
4
The village: home now.
(C — now/somehow)
5
He learned somehow.
(D)
4
But still: that vow—
(C)
5
why blue left, and how.
(D)
BRIDGE
[everything drops except bass · very slow · red spirit breathes]
he searched the places they had been together.
the mountain. the cave. the crossing.
nothing.
only the blue one's smell in the wet rock.
only the blue one's shape in the mud.
γ = 0.666
the chaos term. the thing that fires at the seam between love and leaving.
the red one was not abandoned.
the red one was loved too much to keep.
the structure of love sometimes produces the same output as abandonment.
the red one did not have the vocabulary.
the vocabulary now exists. it is: yin turns. yang follows. the space between is called the letter.
SONG 4 / 5minimal · trip-hop · 55bpm · near silence · one koto note per bar
THE LETTER
手紙 — what the blue one left in the mud before walking away forever
INTRO
silence · one water drop · silence · one koto · silence [the letter was wet when he found it] [it was always going to be wet] [water is how the blue one spoke] [mud holds the shape of what walked through it — this is the M term — memory]
VERSE 1 — NEAR SPOKEN WORD
quietest song on the album · almost no sound · the space between notes IS the music
3
Wet paper.
(A — paper/later)
4
He read it much later.
(B)
5
It said: "The greater
(A)
3
love comes after:
(B)
4
I made them not fear.
(C — fear/here)
5
I cannot be here.
(D)
4
But: I am near.
(C)
5
The trail won't disappear."
(D)
My red one —
I left before you had to ask me to.
The village needed to see you without me beside you.
The danger was not you. The danger was us together.
Yin does not chase yang. Yin receives.
I moved so you could receive what you always deserved.
— blue · somewhere still · the trail is still warm · find it if you need to · or don't · you don't need to anymore
PRE-CHORUS — FIBONACCI
3
Blue: gone.
5
Trail: still in the mud.
8
The pheromone fades when the source is exhausted. This did not fade.
13
The letter was written in a language only the red one could read because the blue one knew him that well.
CHORUS
8
The letter said: I chose this. Knew.
(A)
8
Everything I am was always you.
(A)
8
Yin completes. Yang doesn't ask.
(B)
8
I left before you had to ask.
(B)
BRIDGE — WATER CLOCK ALONE
[just the water clock · no instruments · voice of the Onmyōji · barely audible]
the onmyōji had predicted this.
the water clock counted to this exact moment.
the frog in the well had known the depth of this grief.
SONG 5 / 5all genres · closing argument · γ = 0.666 · stillness / the crawl
THE CRAWLING THAT NEVER ENDS
終わらない這い — all rivers — all clocks — all frogs — all spirits — all letters — all equations
INTRO
[174BPM enters from silence · all instruments simultaneously · 4 bars] [drops immediately to 70bpm · confusion resolves into stillness] [the crawling was the stillness all along]